Beginning Our Inward Reflection

     If we turn and look toward nature as a teacher, we will notice that after the equinox, the time of year begins to be one of releasing, letting things go, and coming back to center. All summer we spend our time exerting ourselves, connecting in community with others, and staying busy. In the fall, as the plants begin pulling away their nutrition/focus from their budding flowers, they instead begin to redirect their energy toward their roots. Autumn is the time when humans would more then likely benefit from doing the same things as nature around them, and begin reflecting on their actions as well as their impacts in the world. Trees are able to suck in that nutrition from their leaves, and slowly over time they "let go" of that old energy and shed their leaves. Even though this is the beginning of the season, the mid-season harvest of the fall equinox marks when we would benefit from doing the same as nature around us. 
     As we examine these things in our life, we come back to the things that we can truly rely on. Many people in today's society rely on external sources of gratification instead of the things inside of us. As the power path forecast written by Lena Stevens says about this subject this month, "What can you trust? You can trust your own truth. You can trust your own wisdom, talents, ability to choose, to love, to create, to eliminate, to dream and to set intentions. Anything you are attached to that is external can be taken away. This can cause tremendous insecurity and you will continue to experience instability and worry that will keep you from being grounded and focused."
     When we focus on ourselves and see ourselves as "fixing" or "healing" what is wrong, we're not taking a look at the bigger version of ourselves, as well as marking our accomplishments in the world. Perhaps if you've been a little too hard on yourself lately - taking a break or really taking care of yourself this month might be the right prescription. There are many things that we can get wrapped up in, but then we begin to blur the boundaries between what is ours to carry, and what is someone elses baggage that we are carrying for them. As Sandra Ingerman always says, our microcosm reflects our macrocosm. And if we are constantly looking to things within us that need to be "fixed" or on the opposite end of the scale, completely ignore that by just hyper-focusing on things that are outside/external - it leads to a state of imbalance that diminishes ourselves in the process. We begin to feel like we're not doing enough in the world, and in that we can begin to take it out on others. 
     Instead, turn to nature. Drink pumpkin spice flavored things if it makes you happy, and soak in all that is around you. But most of all, this month is about beginning to pull away from our extremities and finding our center. Take gratitude in all the things life has blessed you with, and be kind to yourself this month. You deserve it.